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I won’t have to beg them to choose me over their honor. I can tell them I’m sorry and take whatever consequences there are for my actions. I just need a chance to make things right.

Aelon, like all Aurelians, tries to stay emotionless. The alien species views outward displays of their inner thoughts as weakness. I’m glad Garrick isn’t like that. He’s not afraid to show his protectiveness. He’s desperate in his need to keep me safe.

I stay in my gunning seat, but my eyes never stop darting left and right, looking for my triad. I call them mine even though we aren’t Bonded.

Maybe I’m crazy. Maybe I’m going to make Nami’s mistakes, but I’m going to try to make it work with them, Bonded or not. Garrick, Tar’ank and Markrin aren’t like other Aurelians. I trust them.

“Tasha,” Aelon murmurs, and I turn up the receptors to hear them better. “I can’t lose you again—but I can’t run, either. IfThe Instigatorleaves, then the Toads will kill the miners I swore to protect. There is not enough time to evacuate them. They’ll die if we run, so there’s only one course of action left open to us. Ihaveto fight.”

My stomach churns. I didn’t think of the miners. It isn’t Aelon that Garrick and his triad are sworn to protect. It’s the human miners on Tarrion toiling away under threat of Scorp attacks. Now they’ve got a new foe, and they have no idea it’s on the way to kill them.

Garrick won’t let innocents die. Tears come to my eyes. I’ve been putting up a hard front since I was a kid, never opening my heart to anyone. The only person in the world who has seen the real me is Tasha.

I don’t want to be hard anymore. I want to put my head against Garrick’s chest and relax. I want to feel the three Aurelians surround me, walls of muscle and power that no enemy can penetrate.

“I’m begging you—youshould leave, Tasha. Leave and don’t come back. I don’t think I’m getting out of this one alive—but you can.” Aelon’s cold demeanor cracks. Even he is not immune.

“The Orbs, Aelon. That’s all they want.Givethem the Orbs,” Tasha bargains with him, and my hopes spark.

Toads are cowardly creatures. Even with overwhelming odds, they might avoid the fight if they got the cargo.

“Those twenty-six Orbs? In Toad hands? That will result in twenty-six thousand innocents dead. They’re coming to kill us, don’t you understand, Tasha? They’re coming to wipe out the entire mining crew. Don’t you get it? If I give those Toads the Orbs, I’ll have the blood of whoever they kill or kidnap with them onmyhands!”

Garrick’s words churn in my mind. He saw a storm coming. I feel it, too. He and his triad invested in a space station complete with a weapon’s and armor factory, ready to outfit ships for the coming chaos.

Aelon can’t give up the twenty-six Orbs that could be used to power massive beam weapons that the Toads can use against innocents. Whether it’s his hatred of the species or a flawed sense of honor, he can’t do it, even if it means his own life.

Aelon’s face sets. “Now, if you don’t get in that Reaver and leave, I’m going to chain you up, throw you in it, and waste one of my pilots to take you off this ship.”

I need time to run to Garrick and convince him. If Aelon and his triad throw us onto a Reaver and ship us to safety, I’ll never see him again.

I won’t even get to say goodbye. I walk to the controls. If I have to, I’ll start this Reaver up and blast my way out, as long as I can take Garrick with me.

Tasha’s eyes flash with anger, and Aelon softens. “Tasha… Gods, if I’d never met you, I’d already haveThe Instigatorlying in wait for those Toad bastards on the moon. I have to make myownpath, Tasha. I’ve done it all my life. Please—leave.”

The proud, imperious Aurelian begs her, and I have no more hate for Aelon. He’s flawed. He’s alien. But he’s got just as much humanity as us.

“Okay, then,” she growls. “We stay. We fight. At least let me pilot a Reaver. I can help in the battle.”

My heart pounds. Did the Bond corrupt her? Did his death wish seep into her psyche? She’s talking about piloting a Reaver into battle against the mothership and its swarm of attack ships.

I swallow, my mouth dry.

If we run, the miners die.

I need to see Garrick. If I do, everything can make sense, I know it. The longer we’re apart, the more uneasy I get.

Iunia steps forward. “Aelon. We can’t run. Not with the miners we must protect.”

Aelon turns to him. “You don’t think I know that?”

He nods. “I do know that, but I also know how much it pains you. How about this? Give the Toads ten Orbs. They’ll likely kill us and take all of them if we don’t bargain with them, but Tasha is right. They’re cowards. They already have a mothership and a fleet. They could kill plenty of innocents without our Orbs.”

Aelon’s face hardens. Iunia continues.

“Ten Orbs is reasonable. It’s a fortune, but ultimately giving them to the Toads will result in less death and destruction than if we try to fight them. We can fly a single Reaver out to within sub-communication range, so their blockers don’t stop the message, and then we can make them the offer.”

Toads willing to kill innocent miners. Armed with ten more Orbs to bolster their already powerful weaponry.